


Expectations

by babyblueglasses



Series: Parenting [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Loki Does What He Wants, M/M, Mpreg, Over prepared Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-28
Updated: 2014-06-28
Packaged: 2018-02-06 15:26:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1862880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babyblueglasses/pseuds/babyblueglasses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki and Tony have different expectations for what a pregnancy should be like. It does not bode well for them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Expectations

Tony’s expectations for the pregnancy went a little like this: Loki in the height of diva-dom, ordering him to get broccoli-cannoli-coffee ice cream at four in the morning (and cracking a whip as he did), treating Tony as his personal taxi to carry him about, bursting into tears one moment and screaming the next, destroying a small city… 

It was the complete opposite. Tony was the emotional wreck. Three months in he’d woken up at two in the morning and wound up researching ways to baby proof a house. That morning Loki had woken up late and found him down in the lab, babbling about how many electric outlets there were in the tower and how he’d never get to them all. 

Loki had listened, finished off a spoonful of vanilla ice cream, and turned right back around without a word. 

Loki thought it was a one time thing, but the next week, Tony invented a line of robots to hover around the house and perform safety checks. They scattered about like roombas, smacking into walls and then inspecting them. Tony said that they’d prevent the baby from getting into trouble, while Loki pointed out that it would be at least a year until the baby was born and walking. Loki tolerated the spinning bots until he stepped on one in the middle of the night. 

Tony found them all broken and locked inside a closet the next day. 

Then Tony started working on a smart crib, because cribs terrified him. He had read too much. Loki came into the lab just as he was working on a digital mobile to project above it. 

“Come here and look,” Tony urged him. Loki slowly walked over to the crib, bracing for what would surely be a forty minute explanation of how it worked. The moment Loki was within reach, Tony’s hand settled over his belly. Loki restrained himself. He gritted his teeth. He wasn’t showing yet. There wasn’t even the faintest ridge, and there wouldn’t be for some time yet. 

Tony had downloaded and read a pregnancy book. Several, actually. They didn’t coordinate to what Loki’s pregnancy would be, not that it stopped Tony. 

“That’s marvelous,” Loki said unconvincingly. He pried Tony’s hand from his stomach, reminding him yet again that Tony’s reflexive tummy grab made him uncomfortable. “And if you can spare the brain cells to make this child bed, you can spare them to remember to keep your grubby hands off of me.” Tony stared at him, wide eyed. “Unless you’re putting them to other purposes,” Loki said suggestively. 

“Loki,” Tony half-whispered. “ _Not in front of the baby_.” 

“Honestly, Stark?” Loki asked, throwing his arms out. “Honestly?” His voice flew up. 

“Calm down,” Tony said in his most soothing voice. “Don’t strain yourself.” 

“I will do what I please,” Loki snapped. He glared at Tony, flexing his fingers, green spiraling around them. “If it were not for the fact that that child bed is clearly of your craftsmanship, I would think you possessed.” 

“Loki,” Tony said, his voice still placating. He smiled too wide. “Let’s take a breather, reindeer games. Everything’s gonna be fine.” 

“I know it is,” Loki said flatly. He left Tony to tinker with the crib. 

Tony found him sitting upstairs, watching television a while later. He had a bucket of popcorn in his lap, and if Loki hadn’t sworn it, Tony would never have believed that he was pregnant. Loki was so unbelievably level headed about it. Loki didn’t act like anything had changed at all. It was unfair. 

Loki ignored him, even as he sat down on the couch. “Should that be on your lap?” Tony asked gently, taking the bucket away. 

“Oh yes,” Loki said. “The four grams that it weighs will surely crush us.” He snatched it back and kept eating, spreading his legs out further to edge Tony away. 

“Did you take your vitamins today?” Tony asked. Loki could feel his blood pressure rising. “All of that salt can’t be good for you. I’ll order in something healthy, there’s this place that Bruce says is good.” 

“Yes,” Loki said, his eyes closed. His voice strained as he spoke. “Please, go call. I think the menu is sitting on the kitchen table. Could you bring it to me?” 

When Tony got back Loki was gone. 

“I’m still ordering something,” Tony said. Five minutes later he had ordered enough healthy, ready-to-go meals to last a week. 

Loki found a small, sparsely used room to hide away in. He had thought that the challenge would be getting Stark to take an interest in the pregnancy. This was too much. It had been amusing at first, but now Loki was sick of it. 

It took, perhaps, twenty minutes for Tony to find him like a lost puppy. The smell of garlic clung to him as he carried in a container of food. “Here,” Tony said, as if Loki hadn’t been hiding at all. 

“Stark,” Loki barked. It had been a while since Tony had been referred to by his last name, and hearing it twice in one day was not a good thing. “I am the one having the baby, not the baby.” He plugged his nose, for the garlic made him want to vomit. He pointed towards the door. “Get that out of here.” 

Tony looked at the box, and then at Loki, and then at the box as if the two not connecting was impossible. Loki jabbed his finger towards the door. Reluctantly, Tony took it out into the hall and returned. Loki pinched the bridge of his nose. “Do you need something?” Tony asked. 

“Even Rogers does not offer aid so much,” Loki said, standing up. 

“Are you sick?” Tony asked. “Jarvis, what’s his temper—”

“No,” Loki said, looming over him. It had to be the hard way, then. He grabbed Tony’s shoulders and inched him back towards the wall. Tony was squirming, torn between the lusty promise it usually meant and the raging anxiety in him. When Tony’s back pressed against the wall, Loki leaned just enough pressure into him that it was uncomfortable. “Do I seem weak?” Loki asked. 

“Loki, this can’t be good for—”

“Do I seem weak?” 

Tony sighed, so Loki restrained him with magic instead and stepped back from the wall. He made a chair float in the air above them and proceeded to snap off its legs. A tiny smirk appeared on the corner of his mouth. “Are you sure you should be doing magic?” Tony asked nervously. 

Loki glanced at him with glee and then shredded the chair into a thousand pieces. 

Tony stared at the splinters.

“Do I seem weak?” Loki asked. 

“No,” Tony said with resignation. “But—” he said, as stubborn as ever.

“No,” Loki cut him off. “I am perfectly capable of managing this,” Loki said. “I do not need you hovering about me like a baby bird, crying. You do not know my body better than I do, and I find it patronizing.” 

“I’m just trying to help,” Tony said defensively. Loki grunted and released the restraint. He started walking towards the door, but Tony grabbed onto his arm. “I’m just—what if something goes wrong?” 

“And your overbearing will prevent that how?” Loki asked with boredom. 

He tensed in surprise as Tony leaned into him. “I know I’m a wreck right now,” Tony said. “I know, Loki. I just…I don’t want to fuck it up.” 

Loki turned Tony around so that he could see the mortal’s face. He smirked. “Seeing as I am the one carrying the child, that is impossible.” 

Tony grinned, but it fell shortly after. “I want to get this right. There aren’t prototypes.” 

Loki’s stomach lurched as he got another whiff of garlic from the hall. He needed to move before Tony ended up with popcorn bits all over his shirt. “What if he resents me?” Tony asked. 

“She,” Loki corrected him automatically. He took a step towards the door. Stark’s startled voice made him jump. “What?” Loki asked, his hand hovering over the door handle. 

“You know it’s a she?” Tony asked. “When? How? Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“Because she hasn’t been born yet and things may change,” Loki said, yanking the door open. He plugged his nose and walked out into the hall, Tony at his heels. 

“When did that happen?” Tony’s voice fluxed through emotions too quickly for Loki’s reeling head to keep up. He pressed impatiently at the elevator button. When the doors mercifully opened he took a deep breath and leapt inside. 

“She visits my dreams occasionally,” Loki said, pressing a floor button and closing the doors. 

“Oh,” Tony said with audible disappointment. Loki was going to let it go, but when Tony walked out into their bedroom his expression wasn’t quite right. It wasn’t like Tony to dismiss something about the child. 

“What?” Loki asked. 

Tony shook his head. “Tell me,” Loki demanded. 

“Dreams are just your brain processing information from the day,” Tony said. “You’re having a reoccurring dream. Maybe your subconscious wants it to be a girl, but the odds are the same.” 

“Really, you astound me.” Loki crossed his arms, his stare fixed on Tony. “Have you not seen me perform magic? Has it not occurred to you that I am pregnant? And yet it is the dream that is too unreasonable for you?” 

“Loki,” Tony said. “Just because you dreamed it doesn’t mean it’s real.” 

Loki threw himself down onto the bed. “You,” he grumbled. “Exhaust me.” He rolled over onto his back, sliding his hand protectively across himself. “She has dark curls and hazel eyes,” Loki said. “And she’ll speak in your American accent when she wants to annoy me and charm you,” Loki said with such exasperation that Tony couldn’t help but believe him. “She’ll speak Asgardian to impress Thor, and be too formal around any of my relations. She’ll stick to you like paste and learn everything there is to know from you. She adores you already. She’s going to be intelligent, but reserved in ways we aren’t. Sometimes people will have a hard time believing we raised her, but she’ll set them right.” 

Tony stared at him, uncertain of what to say. “She’ll be so much easier to raise than her brother,” Loki mumbled. He rubbed his hands across his face. 

“Right,” Tony said. He thought the color had left his face. “Okay,” he said, because he couldn’t say anything else. “I don’t know if you’re messing with me, but I’m going to assume you are and I deserve it so I’m going to go invent something that keeps me from annoying you,” Tony said. 

Loki stuck out his hand expectantly. Tony hesitated before accepting it. Loki tugged him into the bed. “I’m not raising you too,” Loki said, pulling Tony over him. “You need to calm down about this. You will drive me mad before the child has a chance to.” He slid his fingers into the man’s hair, massaging the back of his head. “Do I need to sing you a lullaby?” 

“No,” Tony said. He could feel Loki’s chest shake in a voiceless laugh. “I think I’d be better about this if you were bossing me around,” Tony said. “You know, sending me out for weird food and shit in the middle of the night. Something normal like that.” 

“Wonderful,” Loki said. “I was just thinking of how much I want pistachio pudding.” 

Tony groaned. But he got up out of bed and grabbed his wallet. 

Loki smirked. He slunk downstairs to eat popcorn and watch television the moment he knew that Tony had left.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first mpreg I've written, so full disclosure on that. ;)


End file.
